Germany-based online health and wellness marketplace Vaniday has raised €15m ($16.4m) in series A funding from investors including e-commerce group Rocket Internet, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Vaniday oversees an online platform through which customers can find and book beauty appointments at salons, which can in turn display their work online. It is free to sign up to the platform but Vaniday takes a commission from each appointment booked through the service.
The company, which was formed by Rocket Internet, launched in March this year and is operating in Brazil, the UK, Italy, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
The funding will enable Vaniday to establish itself in its existing markets, where it has signed up a total of more than 1,500 salons, enter new geographies, scale its marketing and improve customer experience for its service, CEO Maxime Legardez told TechCrunch.
Legardez said in a press release yesterday: “The beauty and wellness industry is estimated to reach a €400bn value by 2018 and yet, it is still one of the few segments that has not yet fully transitioned from offline to online.
“This presents an enormous opportunity for us and we are determined to seize it and continue expanding our company on a global scale.
“This investment equates a tremendous boost of confidence in our vision to revolutionize this market. We will use it to further grow in existing and new markets, as well as further optimise the experience for our customers.